1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to sports protective equipment and specifically relates to hand shields and hand guards for use on ski poles and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Protective hand shields have been the subject matter of certain sports equipment for some time. As an example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,832,912, to Edwards, shows a handlebar safety shield for a motorcycle. This safety shield is a c-shaped bar which is clamped to the motorcycle handlebar. U.S. Pat. No. 568,024 to Gorman, shows a shield for bicycle handles. This shield is a cylindrical cup-shaped metal guard which is open at one end and is partially open at the other end. This guard is clamped to the handlebar of a bicycle in front of the handlebar grip. Gorman, has designed his shield to extend in a semi-circular arc of at least 180.degree.; and it is mounted to the center line axis of the handlebar grip.
Hand guards or hand shields have been developed for ski poles over the past few years. These hand guards were first intended to protect the skier in a fall. What occurs when a skier falls on his ski pole can vary depending upon how the fall occurs. In one instance, the impact is taken by the fingers or knuckles of the skier. In a second instance, the impact is absorbed by the pole being jammed against the second joint of the thumb. In a third instance, the skier's hand opens and the thumb or any number of fingers are impacted on their ends. All of the above situations and others create a likelihood for a severe sprain in one or more joints of the hand. Abrasions and contusions are also quite likely.
German Patent DE 23 57 662 to Chiba and U.S. Pat. No. 3,746,356 and 3,874,686 to Shipstad and U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,490 to Adamson, all show ski pole hand enclosures which are intended to act as a shield. In each of these, the enclosure completely surrounds the hand and goes around the ski pole in an arc of greater than 180.degree.. These shields enclose the hand and keep it from opening, thereby counteracting the reflex action in an initial fall impact and reducing the likelihood of certain types of finger sprains. However, they completely enclose the hand so that under certain instances, the shield itself impacts upon the wrist.
Moreover, some of these hand shields incorporate a ski pole grip as an integral formed part thereof. This produces a disadvantage in that the type of material, usually plastic, for constructing a ski pole grip, should be different from that used for a hand guard. The hand guard material should be of rigid, reasonably unflexible and resilient material, such as certain types of plastics, fiberglass and metals. The ski pole hand grip itself should be of soft and pliable plastic. It is difficult to create a one piece combination hand guard and grip, as ideally, they should be of dissimiliar materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,545 to Dooley et al discloses a ski pole hand shield which does not incorporate, as a part thereof, the ski pole grip. This allows the Dooley hand shield to be constructed of material which is rigid and resilient. Dooley, however, has designed his hand shield to extend around the ski pole in an arc of approximately 205.degree., as shown in FIG. 4 of his patent. This arc allows the hand shield to impact upon the wrist of the skier if the shield twists during a fall.